


Promises

by siluria



Category: Doom (2005), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 21:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/423227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siluria/pseuds/siluria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John's trying to hide in the shadows with demons he would rather forget about, but Dom asks for payment on a favor long owed and John can’t turn away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> The events of Doom are wound back to modern day, and this is effectively set post-Doom movie, and at the end of Fast 5.
> 
> Written for Smallfandomfest 11 on Livejournal

John steered the Mustang into an open space in front of the diner and killed the engine. He pulled the keys from the ignition but didn’t make any other moves to leave the car. The metal of the keys clicked together as he tapped his hand against his thigh and stared at the large glass window of the small back-road diner. The glass was smeared with dust making the mismatched neon signs fuzzy. He shook his head and wondered again why he’d even agreed to come here in the first place.

He’d seen enough of the various news stories to know what Dom was risking meeting him here back in the US, no matter how remote their location was, and that had been the only reason John had agreed when Dom’s call came out of the blue. He’d been living in the shadows since Olduvai, not convinced that the RRTS had truly believed their story, no matter how close to the truth they’d dared to skirt in order for their one omission not to be noticed. They might have accepted him resigning, but John wasn’t convinced they had really let him go, not when he and Sam were the only ones left alive that knew their secrets.

John wondered why Dom was contacting him now, wondered how – it wasn’t as if he’d kept his old cell numbers, and the last time he’d seen Dom was while he was still in the Marines, long before the RRTS came along and poached him. John sighed and tilted his head back against the headrest and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His senses were screaming at him to just start the engine and leave, to not drag Dom or anyone else back into a life he was trying to forget. He grit his teeth on a curse and reached for the door handle, climbing from the Mustang before his senses won the battle.

The diner was cold, the air-conditioning doing an admirable job of keeping the Arizona summer outside of its dust-tinted glass walls. John stopped in the doorway and pushed his sunglasses onto his head as he blinked the sun-blindness out of his eyes. He glanced round the room, placing everyone in the room, and measuring their threat levels before easily spotting Dom in the furthest corner. He’d found a seat that gave him a full view of the diner and the door to the kitchen, the most defensible spot. John saw someone used to being on the run. He spared one last glance over his shoulder at his escape before weaving through the tables, taking the seat opposite Dom, but not before moving it sideways so he had the same view Dom did.

“Taking a risk being here aren’t you?” John asked in lieu of a greeting.

Dom shrugged. “Says the Marine. I thought risk was your job description.”

“Not anymore,” John answered, his voice low and flat. His enhanced eyesight picked up every detail in the room, his ears placing every person in the building even those he couldn’t see, and any that were in the parking lot. If anyone came in looking for trouble he’d know about it before they found their target.

Dom huffed out a breath before taking a long drink of the soda in front of him. “Didn’t think I’d see the day you quit playing soldier.”

John glanced at him before turning his attention back to the room. “Didn’t think I’d see the day you’d get caught.”

John remembered Dom as the kid everyone wanted to be in high school. Too cool for the football team, and too street smart for the bullies to want to risk getting near him. Dom was a genius with cars even then, and while he might have gotten caught the first time he stole a car, John was pretty sure that was the last time too. John had been a few grades below him and in Mia’s classes, which was how they’d first met, but the age difference hadn’t stopped John wanting to hang out with him. Dom at least had offered to show him around an engine, even if he hadn’t let him anywhere near the driver’s seat.

Dom leaned back in his seat, and John could feel Dom's eyes on him in the silence. He waited Dom out, ordered a coffee when the waitress stopped by their table, and was stirring his sugar into the mug when Dom finally spoke. “How’s Sam?”

John swallowed a mouthful of coffee and set the mug down before he flicked his gaze back to Dom. “We’re talking now,” he said simply. He wasn’t going to discuss the nightmares she wouldn’t speak of, or the limp that she tried to hide whenever John was near. Dom knew about them going their separate ways and the arguments that preceded it, he didn’t need to know about how they were now more broken together than they had been when they’d turned their backs on each other all those years ago.

“I guess that’s an improvement.”

John huffed out a breath before he turned in his seat to face Dom. “What’s this about, Dom? After all these years, why now?”

“I need to collect on that favor,” Dom said quietly after a long silence.

John blinked and frowned, wondering just what situation Dom had gotten into that he’d risk coming back to the States. A trip to call in a favor that a seventeen year old John had promised to him when Dom had saved his ass with the cops, erasing any black marks that would have stopped him from being able to sign up for the Marines. Dom had taken the heat for John’s stupid mistake. John knew he owed it to him, but he wasn’t sure he could pay whatever Dom’s price was anymore.

In the end though, there was only one decision. “What do you need?” he asked finally.

Dom tensed his shoulders, and John realized then just how much Dom had bulked up. He’d never been thin, always well-built from hauling engine blocks and exhaust systems, but he looked like a fighter now and John was left with memories of Sarge that he wasn’t ready to face yet. He swallowed and tore his eyes away to track unseeing around the diner.

“I need you to keep watch on Mia.”

John snapped his head back around in surprise. “Mia, why?”

John remembered having the same crush on Mia that every other boy in school had – she’d been the prettiest girl in school and knew enough about cars to make her the dream girl for most of them. Dom had teased him about it mercilessly, after their first meeting where he’d threatened to take his head off if he ever touched her. John had taken him seriously, more so when the starting wide receiver turned up at practice with a black-eye. He knew Mia had followed in Dom’s footsteps, even if her name wasn’t on the wanted posters beside Dom’s.

Dom turned his head away, and John watched him as he stared through the window. “I need to go look for someone,” he said quietly, and John wondered if his hearing had been normal if he’d even have heard the words.

“And?”

Dom turned back to look at him. “Mia’s pregnant, due pretty soon. I tried to get Brian to stay with her but he’s a stubborn ass. He won’t let me go alone and trying to give him the slip isn’t going to work.” Dom snorted and John figured there was a whole hell of a lot of arguments that Dom was glossing over.

“Brian’s the father I take it?” John asked. He knew who Brian was from the news stories, a cop that had been sent undercover that they claimed had been corrupted and turned. John wondered what the deal was between the two of them, that an FBI agent would go to the extremes of busting Dom out of jail. But then John knew from experience that Dom was hard to stay away from.

Dom nodded. “I’m not leaving Mia alone, even if she wasn’t pregnant, especially not when we’ve pissed off some real bad fuckers on both sides of the law. I need someone I can trust and I know we haven’t seen each other in a few years, but there’s no-one else I trust enough with my sister.”

John shook his head, the voice in his head screaming that Dom didn’t know him at all anymore, that he didn’t know what now coursed through his veins, or of the nightmares John had of waking up and finding himself changing into one of _them_.

“John, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and dug the heels of his hands into his sockets. He should say no, he should stand up and walk out of the diner and not look back. Instead when he opened his mouth it was to ask where.

He watched Dom sag in relief, and John wondered what guts it had taken him to ask for his favor. “Cayman Islands, I’ll send you the details. Can you be ready by Friday?”

John nodded. “Can I bring Sam?” he asked, as unwilling to leave his sister alone with her nightmares and the shadows that chased them as Dom was leaving Mia. He knew Sam would love the chance to see Mia again too, they’d been best friends in high school.

Dom smiled wide and nodded. “I’m sure Mia would love that. I’ll get the flight sorted.”

“Is Brian going to be okay with this?” he asked, needing to know if he should expect trouble from jealous partners.

Dom shrugged. “He should be seeing as though it’s his own damn problem for refusing to stay put,” he said before sobering and lowering his voice. “He trusts me to make this call, but don’t be surprised if he tries to test you.”

“I can handle it,” John said, draining his coffee mug.

“That’s why I asked you,” Dom said. He stood and pulled some cash from his wallet and dropped the notes on table. “I got it,” he added when John reached for his own wallet.

John nodded and followed Dom from the diner, slipping his sunglasses back on as soon as the bright light reached his eyes. He followed Dom to what was clearly his car, Dom always did have a thing for Chargers.

Dom opened the driver’s door before pausing. “I appreciate this, John.”

John nodded and stepped back far enough to allow Dom to close the door. “Dom?” he asked, when Dom rolled down the window. “How’d you find me?” It was the part that bothered him the most, that even when he was trying to hide, someone he lost contact with years ago could track him down.

“You don’t need to find something when you’ve always known where it is,” Dom said with a smirk. “I keep watch on those that matter.”

John opened his mouth to ask how, why, but the words stuck and Dom laughed as he started the Charger’s engine. “Friday John,” he called before gunning the engine, the tires skidding on the gravel and leaving dark rubber marks where they hit asphalt.

John stood and watched until the outline of the Charger wavered in the rising heat and disappeared completely. He finally tore his attention away from the deserted road and walked back to the Mustang. He started the engine, letting the air conditioning chase away the sweat the short time in the sun had produced. He’d thought they were alone, him and Sam, just the two of them and their unspoken nightmares and all the years of no-contact that still loomed over them when they tried to break the strained silences. Turns out he was wrong. That maybe Dom would have been there too if he’d been able to.

John would always look in the mirror and expect to see a monster, but there was a hope starting to build that maybe, just maybe, Dom might be there when he dared to look. He risked a glance at his reflection in the rear view, a faint shred of hope that he’d see a Dom-shaped shadow hovering over his shoulder ready to step in if the monster reared its head. He shook his head and cursed his stupidity, forcing the car into gear. He’d keep Mia safe. It was the least he could do.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Favor Owed / Promises](https://archiveofourown.org/works/470470) by [taibhrigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/pseuds/taibhrigh)




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